Macedonia peace talks go on

Macedonia's rival parties pledged tonight to sign a peace deal next week after talks took on a new sense of urgency following the killing of 10 soldiers in the six-month insurgency's bloodiest battle yet.

Macedonia's rival parties pledged tonight to sign a peace deal next week after talks took on a new sense of urgency following the killing of 10 soldiers in the six-month insurgency's bloodiest battle yet.

EU envoy Francois Leotard said agreement was reached after diplomats pressed the parties to come up with an accord before the crisis in the Balkan country spirals out of control.

'The political process will continue until Monday, the 13th of August,' Leotard said. 'This is the date when the agreement will be signed in Skopje.'

The announcement came after a key Macedonian party returned to negotiations after temporarily backing out of the talks. The party, known as the VMRO, had withdrawn because of the ambush of the soldiers and street battles in the northwestern town of Tetovo.

Eyewitnesses in Tetovo said the southern part of the town had fallen to rebel control.

Even before VMRO's decision, Western mediators supervising the talks expressed alarm at the surge in violence and pleaded with the rival sides to restore a strained ceasefire.

'It is now all the more important to rapidly conclude the political discussions,' the mediators said in a joint statement.

Several hundred Macedonians started gathering in the capital of Skopje to protest at the deaths of the soldiers. They chanted slogans against Trajkovski and set up barricades in the areas close to the parliament.

Leotard's announcement came hours after rebels struck a convoy carrying soldiers about 10 miles outside of the capital, Skopje, on the road to Tetovo, which has been near the front lines of fighting.

Fighting continued into the afternoon, with army and police units and vehicles pinned down by rebel fire, said a security source, speaking on condition of anonymity. Government spokesman Antonio Milososki said the 'rebel offensive' cut off access to Tetovo.

The ambush left 10 soldiers dead and three injured - the worst casualty toll in a single battle since the ethnic Albanians launched their insurgency in February.

The attack appeared to be in retaliation for the killing of five ethnic Albanians accused by the Defence Ministry of being 'terrorists' of the self-styled National Liberation Army.

The rebels are not represented at the peace negotiations that have been going on for a month under US and EU mediation. Ethnic Albanian politicians are participating in the talks with the ethnic Macedonian leadership, seeking greater rights for the Albanian minority, which makes up about a third of Macedonia's two million people.